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Green Dot Buying AccountNow and Achieve Card Solidifies Its Position as Number One

Date: February 25, 2015

Ben Jackson

Director, Prepaid Advisory Service

In a footnote to an investor presentation slide, Green Dot Corp. seems to have announced some big news.

On slide 14 of its “Today’s Green Dot” presentation, the company says it expects to pick up $78 million in Non-GAAP operating revenue from acquired programs in 2014–2105. Its note says “estimated revenue growth from AccountNow and Achieve Card Acquisitions.” A similar note is found on slide 15 regarding adjusted EBITDA.

With these deals, Green Dot would cement its position as the largest independent prepaid card program manager in the United States. But why is Green Dot so quiet about the deals?

AccountNow is one of the top five GPR program managers in the United States based on load. The company has built a business of recruiting cardholders online. It has both Visa and MasterCard branded cards, and its cards are issued by MetaBank and The Bancorp.

Achieve Card is a smaller program manager that offers Visa Cards issued by The Bancorp. The company got a little negative press when it was fined by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2013 for certain fees and disputed claims. (More on that here.) But the company was able to change its programs and make restitution so that its cardholders were made whole. The acquisition would be additive to Green Dot’s portfolio.

So the deals seem like they would be a positive development for a company that wants to bulk up in its core business. Investors have been twitchy about Green Dot Stock, but in general it seems the market would welcome this news.

No formal announcements of the deals have been made. Whether Green Dot will say anything more is unclear. For now, it is fair to say that the prepaid industry has shifted.

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